1/12 from 1980: Pops HoF; Gerrit, Jordy, George, Brian, Tony & Bobby Signed; TSN-MoY Willie; HBD Ivan

• 1980 - Willie Stargell was featured on the cover of The Sporting News after being selected as TSN’s Man of the Year. Pops hit 32 homers in 1979 and added five more in the postseason, winning both the NLCS and World Series MVP awards. 

• 1980 - IF Bobby Crosby was born in Lakewood, California. The Rookie of the Year for Oakland in 2004, he came to the Pirates after eight years with the A’s when the 30-year-old signed on as a free agent in 2010. But a .224/.301/.295 slash in 61 games got him flipped at the deadline to the Arizona Diamondbacks in a five-man swap. The Snakes released him in August, ending his MLB career. 
• 1987 - RHP Ivan Nova was born in Palenque, Dominican Republic. After seven years with the Yankees, he joined Pittsburgh when the Bucs sent minor leaguers OF Tito Polo and LHP Stephen Tarpley to the Bronx Bombers at the 2016 deadline for him. In 11 starts, Nova went 5-2/3.07 and the FO lured him back again as a free agent with a three year/$26M deal. He returned to earth in 2017 as his line was 11-14/4.14, in 31 games, more in line with his career results, then posted a 9-9/4.19 slash the next season before being sent to the White Sox, where he won 11 games in 2019, for prospects. He’s now a FA.
• 1988 - Willie Stargell was the only player elected to the Hall of Fame by the BBWAA‚ and the 17th player elected in his first year of eligibility. Cap’n Willie was inducted on August 1st. His Pirate slash was .282/.360/.529 with 475 HR and 1,540 RBI, both team records. Ralph Kiner is second on the Bucco list of homers; he hit 301. Hans Wagner is the #2 Pirate for RBI’s with 1,475. 
• 1989 - The Bucs signed RHP Brian Fisher, 26, to a one year/$404K contract to avoid arbitration. Pittsburgh had the fireballer penciled into their rotation for the third straight year after coming over from the Yankees but he broke his knee in 1989 and only made three starts; Brian would pitch just 26 more times before retiring in 1993. They also bought the contract of C Tom Prince from AAA as they began to form their 1989 club. 
• 1999 - 2B Tony Womack signed a one-year/$1.65M contract in his first year of arb as a Super Two player, zooming past his 1998 salary of $290K. Womack deserved the boost, hitting .282 with 85 runs scored and 58 stolen sacks, becoming the first Bucco since Omar Moreno to lead the league in swipes in back-to-back campaigns. He’d take the title for a third straight time with 72 larcenies in 1999, but not as a Pirate - a few weeks after he signed the papers, he was shipped to Arizona for Jason Boyd and Paul Weichard, with the Bucs looking to clear a spot for Warren Morris. 

Tony Womack - 1999 Pacific Aurora

• 2018 - The Pirates signed both RHP Gerrit Cole & SS Jordy Mercer to one-year/$6.75M deals, while RHP George Kontos agreed to a one-year/$2.725M contract to settle with three of their four arb-eligible players. The fourth, RHP Felipe Rivero, filed for a hearing. His ask was for $2.9M, while the Bucs countered at $2.4M. Less than a week later, the two sides agreed on a four-year/$22M contract (Rivero was a Super Two with four arb years) with two added team option years potentially worth another $19M. Cole, on the other hand, was traded two days later and Kontos was released in May. Jordy lasted the season before leaving as a FA for Motown.